Brasília: Brazilian police seized documents and questioned suspects yesterday to investigate Panama’s FPB Bank in connection to a sweeping graft probe of political corruption at state-run companies.
Police said FPB Bank was under investigation for “financial crimes, laundering of assets and transnational criminal organisation” for offering private banking services without the authorisation of Brazil’s central bank.
Offshore companies registered by the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, the subject of a massive data leak this year, allegedly helped FPB Bank get clients’ money out of Brazil illegally, police said.
Funds came in part from a multi-billion-dollar price-fixing and bribery scheme at Brazil’s state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, prosecutors added in a statement.
“Staff of the Panama-based bank in Brazil not only maintained a clandestine operation but also ensured their clients anonymity by using offshores,” federal prosecutors said.
A FPB Bank executive, Edson Paulo Fanton, was taken into custody for questioning in Santos, the port city near Sao Paulo, police said. Prosecutors said they have identified 44 offshore companies registered by Mossack at FPB’s request.
Yesterday’s operation also included search and seizure raids in Sao Paulo, Santos and Sao Bernardo, strongholds of suspended President Dilma Rousseff’s Workers Party, which ran the country for 13 years starting in 2003.
&uuid=(email))